Albite is a sodium plagioclase, chemical formula Na(AlSi3O8). It is appropriately named after albus which means “white” in latin. Indeed, albite’s color is typically white, but can be colorless, red, blue, grey, and green. It has a hardness of 6-6.5, about the same as quartz, but can be distinguished from quartz because albite is biaxial [...]
Archive for April, 2009
Albite: The White Stuff
Posted in Uncategorized on April 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Gold, Gold, Gold!!
Posted in Uncategorized on April 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I decided to post about gold, considering we don’t have any specimens at UPJ, and you never know when you might come across a seam and hit it rich. Gold is not only a mineral, it is a rare earth element, and a metal. This means that a sample of entirely pure gold contains ONLY [...]
Serpentine
Posted in Uncategorized on April 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Serpentine is commonly mistaken for one mineral; in fact, serpentine represents an entire group of polymorphic minerals, known as serpentine-kaolinite group. These polymorphic minerals have basically the same chemical formula, but exhibit minor differences in structure. Serpentine minerals are found in the silicate group, and in the subgroup phyllosilicates, due to the structural formation of [...]
Norris hite
Posted in Uncategorized on April 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
For my last post I figured I would make it the best one yet…Norris hite!! Yes they named a mineral after Chuck himself(not really actually it was named after Keith Norrish from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia.) Norrishite[K(Mn2Li)Si4O10(O)2] is a manganiferous schist, formed through metamorphism of a manganese deposit. It’s found mostly [...]
Iowaite
Posted in Uncategorized on April 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I picked Iowaite[Mg4Fe(OH)8Clx2-4(H2O)] because it has the name of a state in it and I think thats pretty cool. It’s found mostly in Sioux county, Iowa and has perfect cleavage(thatswatshesaid). It is bluish green, greenish white, or honey yellow. Its platy and forms in sheets. It is relatively soft, with a hardness of 1.5. It [...]
Pabstite
Posted in Uncategorized on April 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I picked Pabstite [Ba(Sn.77Ti.23)Si3O9] because it reminded me PBR…yaaa baby. It is a barium tin titanium silicate that is usually found in limestone. It is only mined in Santa Cruz, California and it is also uniaxial. It occurs in rocks that contain calcite, quartz, phlogopite, tremolite, diopside, and forsterite. It is very rare to find [...]
Uranopilite
Posted in Uncategorized on April 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Uranopilite [(UO2)6SO4(OH)6O2x12H2O] is a pretty cool mineral because it is fluorescent and radioactive. It is a minor ore of uranium and is straw yellow in color. It has perfect cleavage, is fluorescent under and ultraviolet light, is nonmagnetic, and has a silky luster. There isn’t that much information on it but it looked pretty cool [...]
Diamond
Posted in Uncategorized on April 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »
diamond-skull-2
Corundum
Posted in Uncategorized on April 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When you first hear of corundum you may think you have never heard it before but corundum is actually the same mineral as such popular gemstones like ruby’s and sapphires. Corundum is the second hardest mineral known to the science community. It is only second to diamond. This strength could be attributed strong and short [...]
Titanite
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Mineralogy on April 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Titanite is sometimes referred to as Sphene. It is a calcium titanium nesocillicate mineral and its chemical formula. This mineral is named after its composition. It has a slight resinous texture. Titanite has the same hardness as a steel nail. In thin section it has a high burefringence. Titanite is found in metamorphosed rocks such [...]
